The Clinical Analysis In 13 Patients With Burkitt's Lymphoma/Leukemia

Background and Objectives: Burkitt's lymphoma is a mature B-cell lymphoma that is characterized by a rapid proliferative rate and propensity for extranodal sites of involvement such as the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system. The hallmark of this disease is the overexpression of c-Myc, most commonly resulting from t(8;14). To explore the prognostic factors and more suitable regimens of Burkitt's lymphoma, the clinical features, lab findings, treatment regimens and prognosis was analyzed in Chinese patients with Burkitt's lymphoma/leukemia in this study.Methods: 13 Patients with Burkitt's lymphoma/leukemia who were admitted to our hospital from January 1999 to March 2006 were included, the clinical data were collected. The collected clinical data of patients included general condition, physical examination, blood routine test, biochemistry, bone marrow (BM) morphology and other laboratory determination, therapeutic regimen and result of follow-up etc.Results: In this study the median age of patients with Burkitt's lymphoma is 35y (13y- 52y) and the rate of male/female is 3.33:1. Bone marrow infiltration were confirmed in bone marrow morphology of all 13 patients and 12 cases were diagnosed as acute lymphoblastic leukemia L3 (ALL-L3) according to the classification of FAB. Two patients occurred CNS leukemia at the time of diagnosis. The serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level of 8 (61.5%) patients were higher than 500U/L.Chromosome karyotype analysis was performed in 10 patients and 2 patients showed t(8;14)(q24;q32). All patients who accepted immunophenotype analysis expressed CD10, CD19, CD20, CD22 and 5 patients expressed sIgM. The median follow-up time of this study was 5 months (1-23 months). Out of all 13 cases, 8 patients died and 7 died patients died within one year.Conclusions: Burkitt's lymphoma/ leukemia is a highly aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), often present with extranodal sites infiltration as an acute leukemia. Bone marrow and central nervous system (CNS) involvement is common in this disease. The poor prognostic factors include old age, advanced stage, poor performance status, CNS or bone marrow involvement, anemia, the presence of circulating blasts, bulky mass≥10 cm and an elevated LDH in BL. The treatment of BL used for the treatment of ALL is generally ineffective for most patients with BL and results in low frequency of cure. the results of short duration, multi-agent, dose-intensive chemotherapy regimens combined with aggressive central nervous system therapy need to be further confirmed.